Nationals Is a Wrap!

11/2/15

The 2015 USPA National Skydiving Championships at Skydive Arizona came to an exciting finale Saturday, October 31, with the completion of all events. After two days of artistic competition, Team FLO in freeflying and FSC Animare in freestyle retained their national champion titles while qualifying for the 2016 US Team. The final formation skydiving events also wrapped up, with the Golden Knights winning FS 10-way speed and Airspeed taking the 16-way gold. Arizona Airspeed members Chris Farina, Thiago Gomes, Niklas Hemlin, Thomas Hughes and Justin Price earned the title of overall formation skydiving champions.

This year’s championships drew 500 competitors who formed 143 separate teams competing in 16 events. Saturday evening, the closing ceremonies included an acrobatic air show by world-renowned acrobatic pilot Kirby Chambliss, followed by the final awards ceremony and Skydive Arizona’s Halloween party.

Host Skydive Arizona did an outstanding job, from on-line registration to some of the best on-site food in memory. Meet Director Brian Burke skillfully orchestrated up to 130 loads in a day, while Marketing and Events Coordinator Melissa Lowe did a fabulous job coordinating all aspects of the event, yet still somehow finding energy to win a bronze medal in the artistic freestyle event. Complete scores are available on OmniSkore.com, and all the daily broadcasts are available at Skydive-TV. Look for a complete report in the January issue of Parachutist.